Tempering curved glass sheets



10 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed July 28, 1954 wf/vrees myn u 6mm 1.4 JAMES 5 Nov. 14, 1961 l.. v. BLACK ETAL 3,008,272

TEMPERING CURVED GLASS SHEETS original Filed July 2a, 1954 lo sheets-sheet 2 N E ll.

Nov. 14, 1961 L. v. BLACK ETAL TEMPERING CURVED GLASS SHEETS Original Filed July 28, 1954 10 Sheets-Sheet 3 Ng Vla wNN N0V 14, 1961 L. v. BLACK r-:rAL 3,008,272

TEMPERING CURVED GLASS SHEETS Original Filed July 28, 1954 l0 Sheets-Sheet 4 235 236 -1 zsl l i l C" 13 I l I l 326 332 ,Nw/vm LOYD V JA ES' Nov. 14, 1961 L. v. BLACK Erm. 3,008,272

' TEMPERING CURVED GLASS SHEETS Original Filed July 28, 1954 10 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nov. 14, 1961 L. v. BLACK ETAL TEMPERING cuRvED GLASS SHEETS 10 Sheets-Sheet 6 Original Filed July 28, 1954 Qalil Nov. 14, 1961 1..v. BLACK r-:TAL

TEMPERING CURVED GLASS SHEETS Original Filed July 28, 1954 FIG. H

10 Sheets-Sheet 7 Il I 3081- B szo- /NVE/V OYD l/ELACK JAMES E. MWQHEH Nav. 14, 1961 1 v. BLACK r-:rAL 3,008,272

TEMPERING CURVED GLASS SHEETS Original Filed July 28, 1954 10 Sheets-Sheet 8 JAMES MmH-AD l iin l mae/Wy Nov. 14, 1961 v. BLACK ETAL 3,003,272

TEMPERING CURVED GLASS SHEETS Original Filed July 28, 1954 l0 Sheets-Sheet 9 Nov. 14, 1961 L. V. BLACK ETAL Original Filed July 28, 1954 10 Sheets-Sheet 10 ATMMFY United States Patent M 3,008,272. TEMPERING CURVED .GLASS SHEETS Lloyd V. Black, Murphy, N C., and James B. Moorhead, Tarentum, Pa., assignors to Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company Original application July 28, 1954, Ser. No. 446,276, now Patent No. 2,876,592, dated Mar. 10, 1959. Divided and this application June 6, 1958, Ser. No. 741,982

3 Claims. (Cl. 49-'89) The present invention .relates Ato tempering glass, .and especially concerns uniform tempering of .curved sheets of glass of various shapes, particularly automobile back- `lights which have a central portion curved -to a comparatively gentle contou-r merging into portionshaving sharply decreasing radii of curvature, thereby forming opposed end sections, the tangents to which are substantially perpendicular to the tangent at the center of the glass sheet.

In the process of tempering glass, `therglass is provided with a skin having a highly compressive .stress andan interior under tension. Such .comprmsive stress at Athe glass surface increases .the resistance of the glass to fracturing upon impact. According .to .conventional `tem.- pering operations, .the glass is heated nearly .toits .softening point and then quickly quenched by uniformly exposing the glass surfaces to streams of a uid such as air arranged to cool both surfaces uniformly and simultaneously. The even distribution of the cooling .air-on lthe -glass surfaces is a .prerequisite Vto uniform tempering .and is usually accomplished by blasting the air through a'plurality of uniformly spaced nozzles which are .oscillated or rotated in a `fixed pattern lrelative to the glasspwhichis fixed. When the outer surface or skin'of .the .glass lis broken, the locked up tension stresses within the-glass causeit to shatter into a large number of very small pieces. The uniformity of size of the shattered particles indicates the uniformity of the glass temper.

In the past, when the vrequirements of automobilemanufacturers called for the tempering of flat .or nearly .-at plates, the oscillation or rotation of the tempering nozzles took place in a flat plane, which was either vertical or horizontal, depending upon the type of furnace used to heat the glass for the first step of the tempering operation. In order to obtain a maximum cooling eiect and maintain uniform cooling of the glass, it is important to observe the following precautions.

`(l) The air blasts should strike the glass normal to the glass surface.

(2,) The nozzles should all be equidistant from the glass.

(3) The nozzles should all be of the same size.

(4) The pressure of the air blast from each nozzle should be the same.

(5) 'Ihe pattern of movement of the nozzles relative to the yglass should be the same everywhere on the glass surfaces.

Typical prior art tempering -apparatus include nozzles disposed on opposite sides of a glass sheet for directing a plurality of air blasts yagainst the adjacent surface of the sheet and moving the nozzles to prevent formation of non-uniform temper patterns on the glass. Where the glass sheet is flat or includes shallow bent portions, the nozzles may be rotated in a fiat plane substantially parallel to the general plane of the sheet to obtain a satisfactory temper.

When the glass sheet is provided with deep bends at the ends thereof, -as in the present day automobile windshields and backlights, imparting a plane circular move- .ment to the nozzles causes the latter to move toward and away from the bent end portions of the sheet. Such ac- When the noz- 3,008,272 Patented Nov. 14, 1961 zles move toward the sheet, the air, after impinging upon the sheet, is prevented from leaving, thus shielding the glass surface from `.additional cold air. This results in slow cooling .and prevents obtaining the desired temper. When the nozzles move away from the sheet, -the rate of cooling is also decreased because of increased diffusion of the cold air blast with the air warmed by'its exposure to the heated glass.

According to the present invention, tempering uids are blasted through'spaced opposed sets of nozzles `which are moved in a predetermined pattern spaced a fixed distance from the glass sheet surfaces and means is included for varying the contour of nozzle movement to conform rto .the shape of the. glasssheet being tempered. A typical apparatus utilizes two vertically spaced sets `ofinterlinked .nozzle members, v.each oscillatable along substantially horizontally extending tracks comprising vertically adjustable track members. The tracks are .mounted in a frame horizontallyreciprocable in quadrature lto the hori- .zontal lcomponentof nozzlemember movement. Curved glasssheets are held stationary between the nozzle members. The opposite curved glass vsheet surfaces are ex- .,posed to blasts of vtempering uid which impart overlapyping circular patterns to the curved glass by virtue of the relative movement between `the nozzles and the glass. This movement insures a uni-form tempering .pattern in the glass. The vertical adjustment ofthe track mem- ,bers enables changing the pattern of nozzle movements vto yconform -to different glass curvatures.

AAn object ofthe l-presentinvention is toprovide ameth- `od of tempering curved glass sheets linvolving suddenly .chilling heated .glass -by directing blasts of uid against opposed surfaces of .the glass through movable nozzles ar- .ra'ngedin a predetermined changeable contour and whose vmovements define overlapping circular patterns relative to .thesurface of the glass to provide asubstantially uniform lblast pattern on .the glass.

These and :other objects of the present invention will bef oomeapparent from the study'of they accompanying drawings taken in conjunction with the following description.

The particular embodiment .disclosed herein is described for purposes o-f illustration rather than limitation.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l is an end elevational view of a tempering apparatusforming part of the present invention, with certain details omitted -for the sake of clarity, showing the setting of the apparatus for receiving curved sheets of glass;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE l, with certain other details omitted for simplicity showing the apparatus arranged to receive flat sheetsof glass;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View of a lower nozzle assembly taken along the lines 3 3 of .FIGURE l showing how the lower set of nozzle members are linked together;

FIGURE 4 is a frontal view along the lines 4 4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged view along the lines 5 5 of FIGURE 3 showing a lower nozzle housing drive assembly;

FIGURE 6 is a view of a portion of the element shown in FIG 5 at right angles to that shown in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a lower plan view of the upper nozzle housing assembly taken along the lines 7 7 of FIG- URE l;

FIGURE '8 is a view along the lines 8 8 of FIG- URE 7;

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged view taken along the lines 9 9 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE l0 is a view taken at right angles to that shown .in FIGURE .9;

-FIGURE 11 lis a side elevational view .showing the details of the mechanical linkages of drives which impart certain motions to the tempering apparatus; l FGURE 12. is a view at right angles to FIGURE 1 1 showing another View of the various linkages for imparting the desired motions to the tempering apparatus;

FIGURE 13 is a front elevational view showing the air supply arrangements Ifor imparting air under pressure to the various tempering nozzles;

FIGURE 14 is a View at right angles to that of FIG- URE 13; and

FIGURE l is a diagrammatic view of the air: blast patterns 'produced by the individual airv blast nozzles showing how a uniform blast pattern is produced on the glass surface.

. Frome and mounting structure Projections 112 are in vertically disposed slots 114 con-V tained in vertically extending posts 110 of the housing 100. Fastening members '113 x bridge beams 103 in the proper vertical position relativetq the post 110.

Movable frame structure 102 comprises front and rear lower frame members 104 interconnected by lower side members 105 and front and rear upper frame Vmembers 106 interconnected, by upper side members 107. The upper and lower members are secured together by four vertical post members 108. A number of brackets 115 extend downwardly from each opposing lower side member 105. These brackets are so shaped as to clear bridge beams 103 sufficiently to allow relative movement. threaded shaft 116 extends downwardly from each bracket 115 into engagement With an internally threaded worm gear 118 which is adjusted by rotation of l of 4 worm gears 120 interconnected by sprockets 122 and aV shaft 124. j Bracket housings 125 are mounted in xed vertical position but are capableof moving slidably across the floor of the structure upon which housing v102 slides. A hand wheel (not shown) is coupled to one of the worm gears 120 to actuate simultaneous rotation of all four worm gears, thus insuring that the adjustable frame structure 102`is moved uniformly in a vertical direction at all four corners thereof.

Mechanism for adjusting contour of blowers to glass shape Brackets 126 are mounted slidably along the front and rear frame members 104 and may be fixed in position thereon by set screws. Each bracket'126 has mounted therein a vertically disposed adjustment rod 128 which is externally threaded. The threaded rods are each adjusted vertically by an individually adjustable miter gear f mechanism 130.l Y

Each of the vertically adjustable rods 128 is pivoted at its upper end to an ear 131 fixed to front or rear lower rail member 132. Hinges 134 interconnect the adjacent front lower rail members 132 to form a lower front track 135. Similar hinges interconnect the adjacent rear lower f rail members to form a lower rear track. The contour 140. The lower extremities of rods 138 are pivoted to ears 141 fixed to upper rail members 142. Two sets of rail members 142 are hinged together at hinges 144 to form front and rear upper tracks 145. Adjustment of each of the rods 138 adjusts the contour of the upper tracks formed by upper rail members 142 in a manner similar to that provided for adjusting the lower rail members.

As seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, wheels 150` are mounted on shafts 152 extending from linked members 154. The wheels are movable relative to the tracks 135. Attached to each linked member 154 by a pair of rods 156 is a housing 158, which extends from adjacent the lower front track to adjacent the lower rear track. Each housing 158 has a plurality of pipes 160 containing inlet ports 161 through which air under pressure is supplied (FIGURES 13 and 14), and a plurality of upwardly directed nozzles 162 for impinging air perpendicularly to the lower surface of a sheet of glass G in the tempering apparatus.

Upper rail members 142 form upper tracks 145 which guide a plurality of wheels'170 (FIGURES 7 and 8) mounted on shafts 172 which interconnect enlarged link members 1-74 connectedivia rods 176 to laterally disposed housings 178 having pipes 180. Each housing has a plurality of inlet ports V181 and downwardly directed nozzles 182 as shown in FIGURES 13 and 14 to permit air to be blown 'perpendicularly to the upper surface of the glass to be tempered.

The spaced upper and lower tracks and 135 thus provide guides for the oscillating movement of the upper and lower nozzle structures. By virtue of the linkages `between theY individual nozzle housings and the vertical adjustments'of the upper and lower tracks, it is possible to adjust-the train formed by linking the individual nozzle housings to conform its shape to that of the glass to be tempered. The vertical adjustment ofthe rail members 132 and 142 not only permits the conguration of the upperand lowertracks to conform to the shape of the glass, but also permits the adjustment for equal spacing between the nozzles and the glass G interposed between the uppervand lower nozzle structures for tempering.

Movement of oscillatory assemblies It is necessary for proper tempering that the air blasts be as uniform as possible throughout the entire surface of the gla-ss. Hence, it is desirable that the nozzles be moved in a circular motion relativev to the glass sheet. It is well known that a circularV motion can be imparted to an object by providing -two mutually perpendicular oscillating or reciprocating motions to the object -wherein the two motions imparted are 90 out of phase with each other. Apparatus `for imparting these motions will now be described.

Reciprocating motion from front to rear of the frame structure 102 is best shown in FIGURES l and 2. A

lmotor 190 rotates a shaft 194 through a worm reducer gear (not shown). A crank 196 mounted on the end of the shaft 194V actuates a drive rod 198. The latter is hinged at 200 to a cross head 202 fixed to the movable frame 102. The cross head is mounted in a fixed guide 204 below the floor line of the housing. The m-otor 190 actuates shaft 194 and crank 196, thus causing drive rod 198 to force hinge 200 and cross head 202 to oscillare from front to rear of the housing 100. Thus, the entire frame structure 102 fixed to the cross head 202 reciprocates'from front to rear therewith.

Left to right oscillation of the nozzle housings relative to the frame structure 102 is effected in the following 'mannen as shown in FIGURES l, ll and l2. Asprocket :210 is mounted on the main drive shaft 194 to drive sprocket 212 by virtue of a chain drive 214 interconnecting the sprockets. VSprocket 212 is fixed on a drive shaft 216 extending laterally of the frame structure 102 into a mitcr gear housing 218.. S A miter gear 220 in the '5 gear housing provides a suitable 4coupling between lthe horizontally directed shaft 216 and a vertically directed spline shaft 221. Spline shaft 221 is geared to a horizontal shaft 222, which in turn is geared to a vertical shaft 223. The latter in turn is coupled to gearing 224 which drives a crank 226 which controls the lateral movement of a r-od 228 hinged to a central linkage 230.

Linkage 239 is pivoted about a movable rod 232 adapted to slide laterally within a slot 234 provided in an upper slotted plate 235 as seen in FIGURES 5 and 6. Rod 232 is provided with 'flanges 236 for securing the latter to a carriage 238 which is disposed centrally of the lower linked rail members 132. Lower frame member 104 is provided with a laterally extending upper yllange 240 to provide a means for securing a bottom flange 242 of the lower slotted -plate 235 to adjustable frame housing 102. Plate 235 is provided with an upper rail 244 and a lower rail 246. Upper rail 244 provides the central portion of track 135. Linkages 154 are hinged to each of the upper Wheels 250 at either side of the carriage 238. Upper wheels 250 and lower wheels 252 are mounted on the carriage 23S for movement within the rails 244 and 246 to insure that an oscillating translatory movement rather than a rotational movement is imparted to the carriage 238, fixing the orientation of the nozzles perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the track.

Essentially the same structure is provided to supply au oscillating motion to the upper set of tempering nozzles. FIGURES l, 9, l0 and 12 show the construction details for imparting movement to the upper nozzle housings.

Cranks 360 are mounted for rotation with shaft 222 which is driven by spline shaft 221. A crank arm 302 is oscillated laterally as the crank 30G rotates. Crank arm 382 is pivoted at 364 to a lever arm 306. The latter is pivoted about pivot point 308 and fixed to a rod 31) mounted for movement within a slot 312 of an upper slotted plate 314. Plate 314 is provided with an upper horizontal flange 316 to facilitate attachment to a lower horizontal flange 318 of -a vertical supporting beam 320. One of the latter is attached at its upper end to each upper horizontal beam member 166 of the frame structure 102.

A carriage 322 (FIGS. 9 and l0) provided with upper wheels 324 and lower -wheels 326 is fixed to rod 310. Plate 314 comprises an upper rail 335i for receiving upper wheels 324, and a lower rail 332 for receiving lower wheels 326 of carriage 322. The lower rails 332 provide the center portions of the upper tracks 145. The lower wheels 326 are hinged to links 174 which form a part of the upper tempering nozzle structure.

The individual tempering nozzles are provided with a circular motion by correlating the in and out movement imparted to the frame structure 102 by crank 196 with the left to right movement imparted to the linkages 154 and 174 via slotted plates 235 and 314 within the frame housings by cranks 226 and 390 respectively in such a manner that crank 196 is 90 out of phase with cranks 226 and 388. The latter two cranks are in phase with each other. The combination of the back and forth movement imparted to the frame structure 162 and the left to right movement imparted to the linkages 154 and 174 within tracks 13S and 145 respectively insures that the tempering nozzles are rotated in a circular path relative to the glass and are maintained a uniformly spaced distance from the glass regardless of the radius of curvature of the glass bend.

Air supply mechanism Referring to FIGURES 13 and 14, the operation of the air supply apparatus will now be described. Air from high pressure source such as a compressor (not shown) is furnished through an air supply pipe 340 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIGURE 14. Pipe 340 terminates at a connection to feed pipes 342 and 344.

`Pipe 342 conducts the pressurized air into -a plurality of manifolds 346 to which flexible air hoses 348 are connected Vat their upper ends. The lower ends of flexible air hoses .348 -are connected to the air intake ports l181 of upper nozzle housing members 180. Similarly, pipe 344 conducts pressurized air yinto a vpair of manifolds 350 :to which a plurality of flexible hoses 352 are .connected at their lower extremities. The upper extremities .of the vhoses 352 are connected to the yair intake ports 161 of lower nozzle housing members 160. Thus, pressurized air is supplied via pipes 342 and 344 through manifolds 346 and 350 and flexible hoses 348 and 352 to the upper and lower nozzle housing members 189 and 160 respectively. The pressurized air supplied to the nozzle housings is blasted uniformly through nozzles 182 and 162 of the upper and lower nozzle housing members, respectively, toward the opposite surfaces of the glass.

Operation of the tempering apparatus After the upper and lower rails have been adjusted to conform to the shape of glass to be tempered, hat glass sheets G are mounted on a bending mold M supported in a mold supporting frame F. The latter are introduced into a bending furnace where the glass is softened by heat to conform to the shape of the glass bending mold. Immediately upon completion of the bending operation, the hot bent glass is conveyer by means of a conveyor C provided with stub rolls 400 secured to bracket bridge beams 101 into the tempering apparatus where air is blasted through the tempering nozzles 162 and 182 against the lower and upper surfaces of the heated glass to complete the tempering operation. During the time that the air is being blasted against the glass surfaces, the various movements imparted by the cranks 196, 226 and 300 provide the proper relative motion between the movable members of the tempering apparatus and the fixed sheet of glass being tempered.

It is readily seen that each individual nozzle remains substantially perpendicular to the glass surface during tempering and its motion describes a circle over a portion of the glass surface. By proper choice of the amplitude of the reciprocation of the frame and the oscillation of the nozzle housing members relative to the spacing between nozzles, a uniform overlapping of the air blast patterns imparted through adjacent nozzles is obtained. As seen in the blast patterns depicted in FIGURE l5, the area of impact between a given blast and the portion of curved glass sheet chilled by the given blast overlaps a portion of the area of impact between each of the blasts neighboring the given blast. Therefore, by applying a uniform pressure to the air blast coming from each nozzle, by having the cross-sectional area of the nozzles equal and maintaining the nozzles a fixed distance from the glass according to the teachings of the present invention, the glass is uniformly tempered.

The description of a particular apparatus contained herein is for illustration rather than limitation. For example, while the apparatus presently described is especially adapted for tempering glass sheets supported hori- 'zontally, the elements necessary to shape the nozzle housing members to follow the contour of a glass surface may readily be utilized for tempering vertically or obliquely supported sheets. The principal inventive concept of the apparatus lies in its ease of adjustability to conform the nozzle configuration and pattern of movement to whatever glass shape may require tempering.

'II'he present application is a division of application Serial No. 446,276, for Tempering Curved Glass Sheets, filed July 28, 1954, which issued as Patent No. 2,876,592, March l0, 1959.

What is claimed is:

l. A method of tempering curved glass sheets having varying curvatures comprising supporting a heat-softened, curved glass sheet between spaced sets of opposing nozgles, dispensing blasts of tempering iiuid through said 7 nozzles, each arranged substantially perpendicularly toward a localized portion of the glass sheet-from substantially equal distances from the glass sheet measured along the axis of each nozzle, and moving each nozzle in a closed orbit while maintaining said 'distances substan-v tially constant relative to the portion of the curved glass sheet it opposes to direct each individual blast toward a localized area of the glass sheet, the extent of said blasts being suicient to cover the entire sheet, the direction of certain blasts being in oblique relation to other blasts.

2. A method according to claim 1,'wherein each said closed orbit is circular. Y

References Citedin the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 953,953 France May 30, 1949 625,069 Great Britain June 21, 1949 411,321 Italy Aug. 1, 1945 444,473 Italy Jan. 21, 1949 

